The trend: Convenience stores are reinventing themselves as fast-casual dining destinations and competing more directly with quick-service restaurants. They’re moving beyond roller dogs and prepackaged snacks toward freshly prepared meals.

• 7-Eleven will roll out ready-to-eat meals and open over 1,000 large stores with restaurant concepts such as Laredo Taco Company and Raise the Roost in the next few years.
• Love’s Travel Stops launched fresh food offerings in its Fresh Kitchen. It will provide items like fresh-cut fruit, wraps, tacos, and salads prepared onsite.
• RaceTrac bought the QSR chain Potbelly to enhance its food-service offerings.
• QuikTrip rolled out a new store design featuring a full kitchen for made-to-order items, upgraded deli cases, and a wider range of food and beverages.

Customers’ response has been positive: 72% of US consumers now consider convenience stores a viable alternative to QSRs, up sharply from 56% in 2024 and just 45% in 2022, per the 2025 Convenience Store Trends Report by InTouch Insight.

This has raised the stakes: Food items have more than doubled their share of convenience retailers’ in-store sales, climbing from 11.9% in 2004 to 27.7% by 2024, per National Association of Convenience Stores data.

The challenge: Yet even as consumer perception of convenience stores improves, some trust barriers stand as a potential spoiler.

• Food safety: 79% of US adults worry about contamination or spoilage when buying food from convenience chains, per the 2025 Logile Convenience Store Food Quality & Safety Report.
• Skepticism: Many consumers are hesitant to buy items like sushi, packaged salads, or roller-grill hot dogs from convenience stores, and 74% trust restaurant food more.
• Cleanliness: Most shoppers (54%) check for prep-time labels, and 56% have abandoned a purchase after seeing unclean equipment, per the report.

Takeaways for retailers: Convenience stores are raising their food game, positioning themselves to compete more fiercely with QSRs for consumers who want affordable, healthier meal options.

Convenience chains that win in this landscape will:

• Include prep-time labels on grab-and-go items to highlight food freshness.
• Maintain visible cleanliness standards.
• Use mystery shoppers to identify areas to improve operations and customer service.

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